About

I am not particularly comfortable writing about myself and it is only at the insistence of my very talented web designer that I have been persuaded to write a forward or introduction to my web site. Perhaps appropriately, this is being penned somewhere high above the Atlantic on my way back to the beautiful Cayman Islands after an amazing week of air-to-air photography in Europe with an equally amazing group of fellow enthusiasts. The recent images do not yet feature on the site but they will – soon.

I have been fascinated by aircraft for as long as I can remember and have been taking photographs of them for almost the same length of time, initially with a Kodak bellows camera which produced images that were easily discernable to me but which my family dubbed, rather unkindly, as “little dots in a big sky”.

Over the years, with an increase in disposable income and the revolution in photographic technology, the dots have become larger and the sky proportionately smaller. Sadly, many of those that helped and encouraged me in my early endeavors have since passed on but what you will find on this site would not have been possible without their guidance, help and support; John Russell, my history teacher and mentor in the art of photography back in the “dark ages”, Katie who provided me with my first 35mm camera and tele-photo lens – the first steps in making the “little dots” bigger, PV Lloyd, Jaguar pilot extraordinaire, who flew me on numerous occasions over the North German Plain and on one very memorable occasion over the Mohne Dam at an unmentionable speed and height – I think that by now the statute of limitations will cover any minor transgressions there may have been of the Low Flying Rules of the day – and finally and most recently, the very talented and always exhuberent Fred Cabanas who introduced me to the US Air Show scene and to a P-51D Mustang by the name of “Luscious Lisa”.

My first air-to-air sorties, were flown whilst I was serving in the Royal Air Force and came courtesy of the United States Air Force’s 10th Air-to-Air Refueling Wing based at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk; subjects included such exotica as EC-135s, F-15s, F-111s and even RAF Lightnings and Phantoms. My early collection of air-to-air shots also includes Hurricanes, Spitfires, Swordfish and Jaguar aircraft but unfortunately, everything taken prior to 2004 was captured on Kodachrome slide film which, currently, doesn’t transfer well into digital. I keep them in the hope that one day technology will be able to produce digital quality images from sides at a sensible price that will allow me to share them on the site.

Since my reluctant conversion to digital (how I wish that I had embraced it sooner) I have been fortunate enough to fly with many organisations and individuals as evidenced by the images you will find on the site and I am very grateful to all of them for their generosity with both their time and resources in allowing me to indulge my passion for capturing images of aircraft up there where they belong.

Whilst the images on this site are for sale, profit is not the main reason behind it. The prime purpose is to share my love for aviation in all its forms and to perhaps encourage others to take up what has been, and remains for me a totally exciting and dynamic career which offers many opportunities both in the air and also on the ground, in support of those magnificent men and women and their flying machines.

Finally, to all those organisations and individuals who strive to keep aviation history alive in memory of those that have gone before and as an inspiration to future generations, thank you and God Speed.